Halachic Limits to Halacha

There has never been a period in Jewish history during which Halacha has been so challenged as in our days and in this country. For nearly two thousand years, Jews have been living under foreign rule and as such were able to play the role of what I call “comfortable spectators”. They stood on the side while the nations under whose rule they lived, including democracies, struggled with their legal and moral problems. These nations often looked for new ways to increase the success of their legal systems. They often changed their minds about the standards of morality and kept on searching for more successful political systems.

On quite a few occasions Jews smiled when they saw how these nations miserably failed to succeed. As such the Jew saw himself as the good old wise brother who knew it all. We convinced ourselves that if only these nations would listen to us, things would work out better. While it is true that Jewish individuals were sitting in many a gentile government as a nation the Jews never participated in these governments. Under such circumstances it was relatively easy to criticize and to convince oneself of one’s supreme wisdom. We were sure we would do much better. We did not have to prove ourselves. After all we did not have a country where we could. And so we were able to hold on to our convictions without being challenged. This was indeed one of the very few luxuries we were granted in exile. We could easily criticize and smile while the gentile world was struggling. We were and stayed onlookers.

Since we returned to our homeland everything changed. We were no longer the onlookers. We became full actors. Suddenly we were asked to create a legal system for our new Israeli state. Suddenly we had to do it ourselves and now it was up to others to smile.

To run a secular but Jewish country is an almost impossible task. It is nearly a contradiction in terms. This is due to many factors, but one of them is no doubt the fact that the purpose of secular law is different from Jewish law.

It was two great Jewish thinkers, living in two totally different worlds that made this point in an almost identical way. One was Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler who was the famous mashgiach ruchani, spiritual leader, of Ponowitz Yeshiva in Bnei Brak and the other was Professor Moshe Silberg, deputy member of the Supreme Court of Israel.

Both made the following point:

Secular law is rights orientated while Jewish law is duty orientated. While the main point in secular law is to defend and to uphold the rights of the citizen, Halacha is a system, which constantly emphasizes the moral and religious duties of all men. This is borne out by the fact that the Torah never expresses itself in terms of human rights but always in the form of human obligations: “Thou shalt … and thou shalt not …..”

This automatically creates tension between a modern society and the Jewish ideal. Modern society sees its success in terms of making sure that its citizens are content, living comfortably and with great physical satisfaction. It is in this that man must find his liberty. Not so in Judaism. It sees man’s liberty is terms of duty. Not what man would like to do but what he oughtto do.

We could say this a little differently. Secular law’s major task is to guarantee and uphold the concept of civilization i.e. to make sure that man behaves in a civilized way. After all this will lead to the greatest form of comfort and physical satisfaction.

This is not the purpose of Halacha, Jewish law. Judaism is not interested in the civilized man per se. Judaism is the art of surpassing civilization. Judaism is interested in the creation of tzaddikim, righteous people. Its most central word is kedusha, holiness. It is the task of man to be holy not just to be civilized.

I believe that this lies at the root of the great conflict between the religious ideal of the Jewish state and the secular one. Is it at all possible to create equilibrium between these two value systems or ideologies or are they mutually exclusive? Right/ Duty; Kedusha /Profaness; God centered / man centered.

There is however a second question: Does the Halacha incorporate a system in which it is able to function in a secular system which does not buy in to its ideology?

And even more important is the question of whether the Halacha knows of a way in which it is capable of inspiring the secular system to such an extent that the latter will slowly but surely incorporate more and more of its duty and kedusha orientated ideology.

Above all:

Is Halacha capable to initiate a step-by-step healing process so as to bring its original ideology of kedusha back into the center of Jewish life?

Are there halachic limitations on Halacha so as to allow this to happen?

Halachic Limits to Halacha (TTP-154)

There has never been a period in Jewish history during which Halacha has been so challenged as in our days and in this country.

For nearly two thousand years, Jews have been living under foreign rule and as such were able to play the role of what I call “comfortable spectators”. They stood on the side while the nations under whose rule they lived, including democracies, struggled with their legal and moral problems. These nations often looked for new ways to increase the success of their legal systems. They often changed their minds about the standards of morality and kept on searching for more successful political systems.

On quite a few occasions Jews smiled when they saw how these nations miserably failed to succeed. As such the Jew saw himself as the good old wise brother who knew it all. We convinced ourselves that if only these nations would listen to us, things would work out better. While it is true that Jewish individuals were sitting in many a gentile government as a nation the Jews never participated in these governments. Under such circumstances it was relatively easy to criticize and to convince oneself of one’s supreme wisdom. We were sure we would do much better. We did not have to prove ourselves. After all we did not have a country where we could. And so we were able to hold on to our convictions without being challenged. This was indeed one of the very few luxuries we were granted in exile. We could easily criticize and smile while the gentile world was struggling. We were and stayed onlookers.

Since we returned to our homeland everything changed. We were no longer the onlookers. We became full actors. Suddenly we were asked to create a legal system for our new Israeli state. Suddenly we had to do it ourselves and now it was up to others to smile.

To run a secular but Jewish country is an almost impossible task. It is nearly a contradiction in terms. This is due to many factors, but one of them is no doubt the fact that the purpose of secular law is different from Jewish law.

It was two great Jewish thinkers, living in two totally different worlds that made this point in an almost identical way. One was Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler who was the famous mashgiach ruchani, spiritual leader, of Ponowitz Yeshiva in Bnei Brak and the other was Professor Moshe Silberg, deputy member of the Supreme Court of Israel.

Both made the following point:

Secular law is rights orientated while Jewish law is duty orientated. While the main point in secular law is to defend and to uphold the rights of the citizen, Halacha is a system, which constantly emphasizes the moral and religious duties of all men. This is borne out by the fact that the Torah never expresses itself in terms of human rights but always in the form of human obligations: “Thou shalt … and thou shalt not …..”

This automatically creates tension between a modern society and the Jewish ideal. Modern society sees its success in terms of making sure that its citizens are content, living comfortably and with great physical satisfaction. It is in this that man must find his liberty. Not so in Judaism. It sees man’s liberty is terms of duty. Not what man would like to do but what he oughtto do.

We could say this a little differently. Secular law’s major task is to guarantee and uphold the concept of civilization i.e. to make sure that man behaves in a civilized way. After all this will lead to the greatest form of comfort and physical satisfaction.

This is not the purpose of Halacha, Jewish law. Judaism is not interested in the civilized man per se. Judaism is the art of surpassing civilization. Judaism is interested in the creation of tzaddikim, righteous people. Its most central word is kedusha, holiness. It is the task of man to be holy not just to be civilized.

I believe that this lies at the root of the great conflict between the religious ideal of the Jewish state and the secular one. Is it at all possible to create equilibrium between these two value systems or ideologies or are they mutually exclusive? Right/ Duty; Kedusha /Profaness; God centered / man centered.

There is however a second question: Does the Halacha incorporate a system in which it is able to function in a secular system which does not buy in to its ideology?

And even more important is the question of whether the Halacha knows of a way in which it is capable of inspiring the secular system to such an extent that the latter will slowly but surely incorporate more and more of its duty and kedusha orientated ideology.

Above all:

Is Halacha capable to initiate a step-by-step healing process so as to bring its original ideology of kedusha back into the center of Jewish life?

Are there halachic limitations on Halacha so as to allow this to happen?

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About Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo is the Founder and Dean of the David Cardozo Academy and the Bet Midrash of Avraham Avinu in Jerusalem. A sought-after lecturer on the international stage for both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences, Rabbi Cardozo is the author of 13 books and numerous articles in both English and Hebrew. He heads a Think Tank focused on finding new Halachic and philosophical approaches to dealing with the crisis of religion and identity amongst Jews and the Jewish State of Israel. Hailing from the Netherlands, Rabbi Cardozo is known for his original and often fearlessly controversial insights into Judaism. His ideas are widely debated on an international level on social media, blogs, books and other forums.

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